Captain America's Qualified Victory

I've been trying to put my finger on just what it is that was lacking about "Captain America: The First Avenger".
Certainly there is much to like about this film. The acting is uniformly fine, from Chris Evans' earnest and unpredictably believable turn as the titular hero to Hugo Weaving, as the Nazi who 'out Hitlers" Hitler, to Tommy Lee Jones as the hard as nails sergeant, to as Peggy Carter, the British intelligence agent who wins the hero's heart and the audience's respect as a strong female presence in what is essentially a male story in a male universe. The movie faithfully captures the origin story of Captain America, a truly American tale of 'small town kid does good' patriotism, of sacrifice and struggle, of the necessity and morality of doing the right thing, above all other concerns. From it's Coney Island beginnings to its war torn Europe climax, "The First Avenger"brings this 70 year old story to vivid and sweeping life. The details of buildings and dress and weaponry are spot on, and the actors blend seamlessly into the 1940's melange of clothing, hairstyles and general physical sensibility. The movie in so many ways looks and feels like a 1940's comic; it's full of 'gung ho' patriotism and the kind of Norman Rockwell innocence that typified comics of that era.

With so many things "right" about this film, what exactly went "wrong"?

Marvel Comics are known for their more 'real' characters, i.e. those who have to struggle not only with power mad villains, but with some kind of internal flaws of their own. Tony Stark/Iron Man battled his egoism and moral flippancy in his first film, and alcoholism in his second. Peter Parker/Spiderman fought against his apathy and lack of responsibility in the first film, and his struggle with balancing his own needs with those he protected as Spiderman in his second (and the less said about the third film, the better). Thor had to best not only Loki's vile manipulations in his debut film, but also his own brashness and overconfidence. The HulkBruce Banner faces on ongoing struggle to control his own rage, lest it explode outward and hurt himself and those he cares about, not to mention innocents.

Steve Rogers doesn't fit well into this pattern. He's a deeply moral man with a huge sense of right and wrong and responsibility WHEN WE FIRST MEET HIM. Of course, he has to obtain secret medical experimental procedures in order to become Captain America (and thereby, an efficient soldier), but he doesn't undergo the type of sea change that the others do. Much of the initial conflict of the comic came with Cap's struggle to fit into modern society after being frozen in a block of ice for decades, but since that takes place at the END of this film, we really don't get to see any of that here. It's hard to craft a theme around an incorruptible man in a corrupt world when the world you are presenting is so well defined in terms of good and evil, where making the right choice isn't *quite* the bewildering affair it is in the morally ambiguous world of today.

For that, if nothing else, Captain America feels just a bit...lighter...than many of the other Marvel movie adaptations.

It's a perfectly decent action thriller, with perfectly decent acting, direction and scripting, it just doesn't resonate in a personal way the way the others did. The final scenes are very intriguing and do whet your appetite for further adventures of the Captain (perhaps on his own, or perhaps just in the Avengers films, who knows?), and I'd definitely recommend it. Just go into it knowing it's not likely a movie that will stay with you for long after you've viewed it, unless it's for Evans' very earnest and surprisingly effective performance.